Stray Cat
by partsofme
Summary: The normally unflappable Mayor Mills is confronted with an obtrusive enemy who threatens to tear down her solidly built front. No, it's not Emma Swan... Or is it? Set during Season 1 before the curse broke. Subliminal SwanQueen, if you look hard enough (and I know you do). ;)


**Autor's note: So here it is, my first attempt at writing fanfiction like.. ever! Please keep that in mind while reading the following fluffy tale (pun intended) I've written a while ago. Please also note that English is not my first language and that the story is un-betaed, so the mistakes are probably numerous and all mine. **

**So much for the safety instructions. **

**Thank you to my wonderful girlfriend connyx for constantly nagging at me to upload this story. Any resulting complaints are therefore to be directed at her while other comments, thoughts or shameless adulations are to be posted in the review section below. Joking apart, write what you think, I won't cry (openly). ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I'm serious, don't sue me, I'm poor.**

**Enjoy, I guess..?**

* * *

So another relaxing weekend at home, stuffed with fun things like going through town council meeting protocols, balancing budget issues and other trifles a mayor had to deal with on a daily basis.

_What an appropriate life for a royal. _Regina pondered sarcastically while leaning back in her executive chair and sighing loudly at the view of the large pile of files occupying her desk that didn't seem to become any smaller.

As if that wasn't already enough, she also had to work on a plan for preventing that annoying, prepotent person Emma Swan from taking her son from her and destroying her whole life. _Her_ Henry. The child the other woman had so carelessly thrown away, in the first place, and was now trying to lay claims on.

_Her_ boy, whom she had nurtured and raised all those years, the _one_ person she loved more than anything else.

The mayor clenched her fists in fury and tried to calm herself by slowly taking a deep breath and holding it for a moment before releasing it again. It worked to soothe her nerves.

Relaxing a little bit, Regina rubbed her burning eyes, which were, as she knew, bloodshot to a point were even her extensive use of makeup could hardly cover the fact that she hadn't had a decent night's sleep in… God knows how long. Probably since _that woman _had come to town trying to rip her apart with her sheer impudence and her outrageous habit of opposing the mayor at every given opportunity. The latest incident being her running for the sheriff post and even winning it.

_Stupid townsfolk._

Emma Swan could obviously not even take care of herself. How that woman could be designated as someone who constantly had to take responsibility for other people's lives was beyond Regina. Realizing, a little bit worried, how worked up she got again by only thinking about the new sheriff and her habit of standing in Regina's way, she tried to calm herself by focusing on her work.

_She is not _that_ important after all. _The mayor thought. _Actually she is _nothing_. _

Hanging on to that mantra proved as soothing enough for her pulse to slow down a bit and the pulsating pain in her head, caused by the lack of sleep and the thoughts about a certain blonde, to decline to an endurable level.

The brunette took a deep breath, shook out her shoulders a little bit and concentrated her attention back on reviewing the town's order for new wild animals crossing road signs, when she was suddenly disturbed by a strange sound. Regina paused for a moment and listened for the sound. There was stillness again. All she could hear was her own labored breathing and occasional bird's chirps. Shaking her head she kept on reading.

_Hallucinating already, are we?_

But then there it was again, this time more distinct and clearly coming from outside. Was that a caterwaul?

"Meow!" It definitely was.

Regina drew the curtains from her office window and peeked outside, quickly locating the annoying sound as coming from around her apple tree. Her beloved apple tree, the one this impertinent woman had mutilated so shamefully. She glanced mournfully at her formally majestic plant. At the spot where one of its healthy, thick branches had been sawed off the trunk, she spotted something odd. As she looked closer, she really noticed a little cat standing there, obviously struggling to get off the tree and mewing loudly in failing its attempts. Regina snorted in amusement and disgust at the same time.

_Stupid thing._

She stepped away from the window, not wasting a thought on helping the little creature.

_It will come down..._ She thought, a devilish smirk tucking at the corner of her mouth. _...one way or another._

So the ever composed, reserved Regina straightened her shirt, tucked a loose strand of hair back to where it belonged and got back to her mayoral duties, again starting to delve into her papers – or at least trying to. Twenty minutes of cacophonous sounds coming from her garden later, the mayor had to acknowledge, with utter dismay, that the cat wouldn't just hop from the tree, or at least be quiet, eventually. Instead it had obviously decided to keep being a pain in her overworked neck by further increasing the volume of its horrible meow, causing her headache to again reach an unendurable level.

_Enough of this!_

She literally jumped up from her chair and stomped to the back door, furiously tearing it open and shooting murderous glances at the creature in the tree, that, had she still been in possession of her magical powers, would have roasted the little furry animal in an instant. Instead the little cat only looked at her incredulously, obviously stunned by the dramatic appearance of the mayor. The amazement, however, didn't last very long and the cat only meowed louder, now directly addressing the brunette woman at the doorstep. It seemed like the little fellow wasn't intimidated in the least by Regina's appearance and the hatred that shot out of her eyes. That infuriated the mayor even more.

"Stop it!" She shouted angrily, got back into the house and slammed the door behind her, leaning onto it to listen if the cat dared to raise its voice once more.

Hearing nothing for a few minutes, Regina let a triumphant smile spread on her lips and was sure that her authorial address must have had the desired effect on the animal.

But she was mistaken. The little cat now only began to meow even more heartbreakingly, uttering sounds no creature with a heart could be unaffected by. With Regina it was, of course, a little different…

The brunette automatically narrowed her eyes to slits and compressed her lips in rage before she stormed out of the door once more, this time not stopping at the frame but darting at her apple tree and the living nuisance occupying it. She stopped right in front of the little cat, which sat at a branch at her eye level, and began scrutinizing the now quiet creature disdainfully. Viewed from close up, the little cat looked to Regina like any other cat. It was mostly white, with a few stripes of bright orange here and there, had two big blue eyes – or where they green? – and had, apart from that, other essential features a cat should possess, like four paws, two ears and a short, bushy tail.

Regina would therefore have described the cat as nothing but ordinary. What caught her eyes, however, was the curious look with which the cat itself examined her. It was neither shy, nor did it appear to fear the woman but seemed, apart from its unfortunate position, on the contrary quite relaxed and curious for the things to come. Regina shook her head. As if such a creature could have emotions like that, let alone a unique character or even a soul. She laughed at that inwardly and gulped down the thought that the latter feature she was not even sure of possessing herself.

Fact was, that the little animal obviously didn't fear her, which enraged Regina once more.

_How dare you not fear me! Don't you know who I am?!_

Regina fumed, gripped the cat rather rudely by its nape and let the filthy creature dangle in the air, keeping it still at eyelevel but holding it as far away from her body as her extended arm allowed. Judging from the cat's features, the little creature didn't mind being in this position, resembling a cat mother's clutch, at all, and even seemed somewhat soothed by the touch. Regina had enough of it.

She would preferably have let that disgusting bundle of fur fall right there and give it a kick with her shoe, for good measure, but she couldn't risk doing that in public. After all, she was the mayor of this town and had a certain reputation to keep, which could surely be not affected positively when being seen banging about cute little cats. She knew that she was not very popular anyhow and couldn't risk handing the last respect she held amongst the people of this town to Emma Swan as well.

_You would like that, wouldn't you, _Sheriff Swan_?!_

So Regina teeth-gnashingly put the cat to the ground, as gentle as she could manage, and took a few steps away from it, wanting to make sure that the pathetic thing wouldn't be so stupid to climb up the tree again and that it would instead leave her yard for good and not..

_Oh no… _come tripping her way like a trained dog.

Regina sighed deeply. That would be a lot more difficult, than she had imagined.

She made a few steps further to the house, glaring angrily at the cat and trying to show it with a dismissive movement of her hand where it belonged but the little white-orange cat kept moving steadily in her direction, holding its little tail high while, Regina could swear, wearing a mocking expression on its face.

The mayor hurried to her door, tore it open and swiftly shut it behind her back. She cast a cautious glance out of the window beside and couldn't quite believe it when she saw the cat still recklessly sashaying towards the house, seeming not in the least affected by the aversion it had to expect from its proprietor. Regina kept watching the little trespasser as it approached the house, climbed the stairs and sat down right in front of the door, apparently waiting to be let in.

_That stubborn little…_

Regina observed the cat, feeling the anger again boiling over her. Why didn't anyone, obviously not even ANYTHING, follow her orders?!

She began to worry. If not even that repulsive little cat respected her authority, how would she in future be able to maintain her power amongst others?! She had hardly ever felt so humiliated by something so insignificant as that creature, sitting at the other side of her door and refusing to leave her alone.

For a moment she felt the loss of power, the crumbling of her self-confidence, the helplessness of not being able to control a situation or a living being. Regina felt overcome with self-doubts. Her back slid slowly down the door, her feet not being able to contain the weight of her emotional turmoil anymore, forcing her down to the floor. She sat there for a moment, breathing heavily, awash with fear of losing everything she had fought so hard for, of being no longer able to contain the façade she had so thoroughly been building up around her for all those years.

Regina drew in a deep breath, feeling her body shake a little when letting it out again in a loud sigh. She tried to compose her body, straightening her upper part that was still supporting itself against the door, straightening her shoulders and crossing her arms above her chest almost defiantly. Slowly regaining her confidence, she started reflecting on her previous state of mind and on her ridiculous position on the floor.

Why did she sit here pitying herself?! She was Regina Mills, one of the most powerful women far and wide and definitely the most powerful woman in _Storybrooke_, the town she had created _herself_. Regina Mills - feared, adored and envied at the same time for the power she had. And yet she sat here, brought to an existential crisis by what? A stray cat?

_You got to be kidding me!_

Finally she let out a loud, liberating laughter, mocking her temporary weakness and shaking off the last bit of tension remaining of her previous paralyzing state of mind. She then hurried to re-erect herself from her crouching stance on the floor and brushed the dust off her designer suit pants. Shielded by her recovered confidence, she even dared to peek out of the window, sure that that hideous cat had by now saw sense and disappeared, considering that she had not heard a sound from the other side of the door for a while.

She was again deeply surprised and annoyed at the same time to see the cat still sitting there, even having moved closer to the door, as it seemed.

As it spotted the movement of Regina's head behind the window, the cat turned to her, blinked a few times and started to meow again, as loud as ever, directly looking at her.

_That…_

Regina was so shocked, she couldn't even come up with a deprecatingly description of the thing sitting outside her house, anymore. Her face was flushed with anger but she didn't let herself get that worked up again. After all, the cat had no means to gain access to her house. She was safe behind its wooden doors and concrete walls. Eventually the dreadful creature would give up its tedious besiegement and stroll off. All she had to do was to endure the acoustic irradiation and wait.

_HA!_

"You can't get in here, you little beast. You can huff and puff as much as you like!"Regina addressed the cat through the door, smiling triumphantly.

There was a little silence after her loudly exclaimed mockery but then the cat began meowing again, asking for entrance and when that didn't proof as very effective, it got on its hind paws, braced its front paws on the door and started scratching its claws at the white-painted wood. Hearing the loud scratching sounds, the mayor glanced at her door incredulously. It was as if the cat had understood what she had said and wanted to prove her wrong.

Now she didn't feel so safe in her house anymore, after all. Clearly the little bastard wouldn't be able to bring the walls down but Regina was sure that it could do considerable damage to her façade, considering how stubborn that animal was, and she wouldn't have that. So she followed the old saying to keep one's friends near but one's enemies even nearer, grabbed the doorknob and finally opened the door reluctantly. The cat immediately came strolling in, as if entering the house was the most natural thing in the world, gave the dumbfounded mayor a greeting meow and an appreciative look while confidently marching past her into the living room.

_Great!_ The mayor exhaled audibly. _Just what I needed._

Although she would never have admitted it openly, a part of her admired the cat's confidence and its endurance - both treats she no longer was so sure of possessing herself.

Regina followed the cat into the room and watched it making itself comfortable on the coffee table. Staring at it, she shook her head reprovingly.

"Loud, annoying, stubborn, presumptuous, breaking rules and knowing of no manners whatsoever." She now spoke to the cat in a southing tone, while approaching it slowly, not wanting to chase it away. With her slow, smooth motions, she almost looked like a cat herself, stalking her prey and waiting for the right moment to…

With a swift motion, she grabbed the cat by the neck and raised it until it was, like before, at her eye level. She pursed her lips in disgust while studying it.

"Who do you remind me of?" Regina faked pondering, the blonde sheriff echoing in the cat not only in terms of character but also in that determined, unbending gaze they shared. The cat still didn't seem to mind the ungentle treatment and showed no signs of resistance.

"Guess you don't have everything in common with her then, after all." The mayor commented. "Being in your position, she would surely have mangled me by now."

She reconsidered her statement for a moment, then added with a cocky grin. "Or she would at least have _tried_."

Regina raised an eyebrow at the sight of the cat still dangling from her hand. It oddly seemed to settle more and more into her grip, to the point of obviously enjoying the not well-meant touch. Was that little bastard actually starting to purr? Regina snorted.

"Who am I even talking to!? Some mindless animal that's not even clever enough to differentiate between violence and tenderness." She laughed deprecatingly, strode through the hallway to the storeroom under the stairs and deposited the cat in it, shutting the door tightly.

_So, what am I gonna do now? Let that thing rot in there?_

Given that it had already started to make those cat noises again, that was clearly not an option. Regina quickly strode to the hi-fi system in her living room to seek out something that was capable of drowning out those terrible noises.

_What was that music genre called, that sounded like a mass panic in a zoo? Black metal? _

The mayor flipped through her music selection and found nothing of the kind.

"I guess Wagner will have to do then" She sighed. Tuning on the classical music as loud as it got, without risking a hearing damage, she let her tired body drop on the living room couch.

_What's next? I gotta get rid of that cat somehow._

Fact was, that she had to do it rather sooner than later if she didn't want to risk Henry seeing it when he would come back from that birthday party at one of his classmates' later on. He'd probably want to keep that disgusting thing.

Although the glaring song of the Valkyrie managed to drown out the noises coming from the storeroom, it didn't help to relieve the tension still floating through the mayor's body. She pinched the bridge of her nose to soothe her once more growing headache. Who could she pass that stray cat on to? She pondered for a while.

_Of course!_

Regina immediately sprang to her feet, paced to her home office and gripped her mobile. She scrolled through the numbers in her address book and finally found the one she was looking for, hesitant for a moment to dial but finally pressing the green button. The longer the sonorous dialing tone sounded in her ear, the more impatient the mayor became. When finally a well-known voice told her, that the person she tried to reach was currently unavailable and asked to leave a message, she was already filled with indignation. Clenching her teeth in frustration, she waited for the blip and spoke in her most commanding tone.

"This is Mayor Mills. I need you to come to my house immediately and take care of a perpetrator!"

She hung up, exhaling loudly and tearing her hair in frustration. Regina Mills had never been a woman who lost her composure easily but if there was something she couldn't quite cope with, it was insubordination. She was not used to others not following her rules or being unobtainable when she needed them. Wait a minute. _Needed_ them? Regina Mills needed _no one_.

She regained posture and decided to look after her unwelcomed guest, having not heard any distinct sounds from the storeroom in a while. Maybe the problem _had_ sorted itself out, after all.

Pressing her ear to the wooden surface of the storeroom door, she listened carefully for any sounds. What was that? It sounded like..

_OH NO! _

Suddenly remembering, that she kept her favorite black leather high heel lace up boots in that storeroom and realizing that the quiet sounds coming to her ear were unmistakably chewing noises, she immediately tore the door open.

The scene of destruction awaiting her inside the storeroom almost brought tears to her eyes. Her beloved boots laid spread out on the floor, along with some other of her favorite shoes. Sharp cat teeth and claws had made deep impressions on a good amount of the expensive footwear and the strings of her boots had been pulled out and spread on the floor, glaring with cat's drool.

Amidst the chaos sat the cat, glaring at her innocently as ever and being seemingly very proud of itself.

_You filthy little…!_

The mayor boiled with rage, looking at the destruction in front of her but instead of coming up with a new expletive to address the cat with, she simply shouted what first came to her mind.

"Emma!"

As soon as that name had been uttered, the mayor looked shocked. She stared at the cat in front of her which also seemed a bit surprised by the appellation but rather because of its volume than because of its meaning. Nevertheless, it blinked at her and seemed not to be intimidated in the least.

Recovering from her state of shock, the mayor regarded the animal in front of her.

Well, at least it fit. Why shouldn't the two biggest nuisances in her life share one name? It helped to shorten things.

"So, _Emma_" The mayor said, picking up the cat in her usual tender way, "let's find you something to eat before you devour the rest of my wardrobe, as well."

Holding the cat by the neck, she shot one last regretful glance at her tattered footwear before closing the storeroom.

She went to the kitchen, where she freed the kitten from her death grip and deposed it onto the floor.

"Let's see, what we can get you." She sighed, easily settling into the role of the intrinsically hostile but excessively polite host she was so familiar with. The brunette began searching through the kitchen cupboards, looking for something suitable to feed to the cat.

"I'm afraid, rat poison is out." She shot the animal a pointed glare, which sat a few steps away, looking up to her expectantly.

Finally the mayor found a can of liver paste which she deemed appropriate to offer up to the animal. As soon as the cat heard the sound of the can lid popping open, it began to graze around the mayor's legs, looking up to the kitchen counter where its meal got set up onto a plate and meowing impatiently every now and then.

Regina had problems to not trip on the cat when she took a few steps to dump the emptied can into the garbage pail and placed the plate on the kitchen floor. She watched in disgust as the hungry animal bottled up the paste eagerly, almost choking on the big chunks it took.

The mayor decided to spare herself the further sight of the little beast devouring its meal and returned to the living room where Wagner's opus was still in full swing.

Switching of the music, she listened to the following silence for a while, enjoying its comforting embrace, which was only countermanded by the loud drumming noises inside her head. Again she let her tired body sink into the couch, settled back into the soft cushions and propped her feet up onto the armrest. Lying on her back that way proved to help her body relax and calmed her hammering head a little. Sighing loudly, she closed her eyelids.

_I'm just gonna give my eyes a little rest. _

The last thing she heard before drifting off to sleep was the faint pitter-patter of paws on the floor and the constant sound of purring becoming louder.

She didn't really notice anymore.

* * *

When the mayor opened her eyes the next time, she was met with the hairy face of the cat, lying only inches away from her own. Her mind still being clouded from the sleep, it took her a few moments to realize where she was and what that thing was that rested on her chest.

_What the…?!_

Trying to turn her head away from the cat, she felt a sharp pain in her neck, clearly the result of having slept too long in an uncomfortable position. At least her head didn't hurt anymore and the stinging in her eyes had decreased, too. Now she only had to extricate herself from that awkward soft line approach the cat had been taking.

Her stirring woke up the until then sleeping cat and it blinked at her with hooded blue-green eyes before having a good yawn and settling back into its comfortable rolled up position on the mayor's body. It also started purring again, sending constant vibrations through Regina's upper half.

Before she could even begin to get worked up by that repeated presumptuous behavior on part of the cat, she heard loud knocking coming from the front door. In getting up, she swiftly shoved the animal off her body which didn't seem to mind the disturbance very much and again quickly rolled itself up on the couch.

The knocking on the door, now and then interrupted by the sound of the door bell, got increasingly louder and more impatient. The mayor reached the door and wrenched it open, not bothering to look who was waiting outside beforehand. Whoever it was, she was already very much annoyed by the person and willing to show her indignation openly.

The surprised look on the face of the person standing on her porch whose right hand was frozen mid-air, obviously interrupted in a further attempt to knock the house down, was definitely worth the brusque appearance. The mayor almost had to stifle a laugh but quickly suppressed any sign of emotion that could be misinterpreted as friendliness.

"Sheriff Swan" She addressed the other women in front of her briskly,

"I'm so very glad you could make it." Regina continued, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"And only…" She took a pointed look at her watch, surprised herself by how late it had got, but careful not to show her astonishment. Had she really slept that long?

"four hours late!" She raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing the sheriff disdainfully, who still seemed to be in a state of shock, mouth agape and glancing at her incredulously.

"Well, I'm sorry, Mayor Mills. I…" Emma Swan finally began to stammer, slowly waking up from her paralysi.

"I was on patrol and had forgotten to take along my mobile. I heard your message just now and…" The sheriff examined the mayor from top to bottom, starting at her disheveled hair, continuing with her slurred eye makeup and slightly smeared lipstick, proceeding further down to her bosom, where she perhaps let her gaze linger a while longer than necessary.

_What was that on her chest? Was that…_

Emma shook her head to prevent the, surely rather inappropriate, thoughts from taking charge of her brain. The mayor looked at her increasingly unamused, obviously waiting for her to finish her sentence. But instead of that, the sheriff just managed to utter what first came to her mind when looking at the mayor.

"Are you ok?" She asked, a slight nuance of worry resonating in her voice.

"Why, of course!" The mayor declared a little too loudly.

"Why shouldn't I be, considering that my employees fulfill their jobs with so much sense of duty and diligence?!" She stared depreciatingly at the woman in front of her who stood there awkwardly, clearly not feeling comfortable in her skin at that moment.

"Listen, I already said that I'm sorry…" Emma began ruefully, while scratching her neck in embarrassment.

The mayor, hardly being able to contain a triumphant grin at the other woman's obvious struggle, showed her generosity by signaling the sheriff with a swift wipe of her hand, that further apologies were unnecessary. She had already got her where she wanted her to be, further bootlicking was not required. The mayor suddenly felt a little sting in her chest, thinking about her boots and what that beast had done with them.

"Are you sure, you're ok?" The sheriff inquired skeptically, not being able to quite evaluate the mayor's silence and faraway look.

"You look a bit… worn out." She added, not trying to mask her surprise at seeing the otherwise ever composed mayor quite so shattered.

"Why, Sheriff Swan, _charming_ as ever!" The mayor countered sardonically. Suddenly a bit self-conscious, she then tried to smooth out her rumpled up hair with her fingers. Noticing the sheriff's expectant look she finally sighed unnerved and re-emphasized, using a more informal address.

"I'm positively alright, _Miss Swan_."

Not fully believing the other woman, the sheriff instinctively began glancing past the mayor, scanning the house for signs of destruction or anything suspicious but noticing nothing unusual.

"So what's happened? When I heard your message, it sounded like some animal was being tortured in the background."

The mayor rolled her eyes at the unqualified statement.

"I can't say I'm very surprised, that you are obviously not able to distinguish high art from torture. In this regard, your understanding of music seems to correlate rather well with your fashion sense." She eyed up the sheriff disparagingly who seemed to have been sewn into those awfully tight jeans and that unspeakable red leather jacket "…or however you would call _that_." She remarked sharply.

Averting her gaze, she then exhaled loudly.

"Anyway, I can assure you that no animals were being harmed here. In fact, _I_ am the one who has been martyred during the last couple of hours."

"So what's wrong then?" The sheriff inquired, becoming more and more impatient with the mayor's vagueness. "And where is the perpetrator you were talking about?"

Right on cue, as if the animal had noticed that it was talked about, it came strolling around the corner languidly. When it spied the two women at the door, it came to a stop and started watching the scene with interest, having a good yawn and stretching its drowsy body thoroughly. Glancing past the mayor, Emma Swan was the first to notice the animal.

"Since when do you have a cat?" She asked casually. The mayor, following her look, turned around and darted a nasty look at the animal which had in the meantime begun to scratch its claws on the door frame.

"_That_, Sheriff Swan, I can assure you, is not a _cat._" She answered, zealous to charge her voice with as much disdain as possible while approaching the cat. Reaching the animal, she grabbed it by the neck and picked it up from the floor.

"_This_ is a living, breathing creature from _hell_."

Carrying the cat to the front door, Regina held it up to the sheriff for inspection, being absolutely sure that the demonic character of the little beast must be quite obvious, even to the sometimes awfully dense woman in front of her.

Emma Swan mustered the orange-white cat for a while, acknowledging in amazement that the little creature obviously enjoyed the harsh looking treatment on behalf of the mayor as it didn't struggle in the least but, on the contrary, now began purring quietly.

"Well, it does look rather harmless to _me_." She stated finally with a hint of a smirk playing around the corners of her mouth.

"Don't let yourself be fooled by its looks. That little beast has sure enough given me a hard time." The mayor couldn't believe that that impertinent woman was obviously not taking her seriously.

"Now that you say it.." The sheriff faked to suddenly realize, again eyeballing the mayor, "you really look like you've been in a massive cat fight." She chuckled about her successful pun but quickly regained composure when noticing the warning look the other woman was shooting her.

"I'm glad that my hardship offers so much cause for rejoicing to you. But if we maybe could come back to the point now." The mayor countered with a sour look, sarcasm dripping from her words. Emma nodded, still not being able to wipe the smirk from her face, much to the mayor's dismay.

"I want you to get rid of this thing for me." Regina stated matter-of-factly while handing the little cat over to Emma who took it reluctantly and held it in her hands, not sure what to make of that situation. She looked alternately at the cat and at Regina until the realization dawned on her.

"Wait a minute.. _That_ is the perpetrator you were talking about?!" She asked incredulously. "_That_ is the reason you ordered me to your house in the first place?!"

"Yes, Sheriff Swan." Regina sighed, mocking relieve that the sheriff had finally got the point.

The other woman, however, still couldn't believe it and was far from pleased by the mayor bothering her with such a trifle, especially when she had actually been worried that the other woman had been in real danger.

"Why didn't you call the animal shelter or David, for heaven's sake?!" She asked indignantly and maybe a little too loudly, adding accusatory "I thought, it was an emergency!"

The mayor was momentarily taken aback, both by the sudden harshness she was greeted with and by the fact that she hadn't even considered calling the animal shelter.

Why hadn't she thought of _that_?

Although Regina was obviously startled at first, she quickly regained countenance and retorted, raising her voice herself.

"First of all, I never claimed that it was an _emergency_. And if it had been, I surely wouldn't have been well-advised to call you in the first place, considering that, by the time you found it appropriate to come to my rescue, even the most uninspired intruder would have had enough time to torture me to death and sell half of my belongings on the internet." The torrent of words coming from the mayor's mouth seemed to have made an impact on the sheriff who looked increasingly intimidated. That encouraged the mayor to up the ante and she continued.

"Secondly, I would very much appreciate it, if you left the decision, whom of my employees I assign with which tasks, to my own judgment. And, considering your previous occupation, I thought picking up a stray cat and delivering it to its designated purpose would meet your qualifications very well."

Regarding the other woman as defeated and being exceptionally proud of her pointed statements, Regina waited for a retort. When Emma only looked at her angrily, shaking her head but saying nothing, she considered the conversation as finished.

"Could you now please get that dirty thing out of my sight?"

"Sure, Madam Mayor, I'll take care of that _disgusting animal_" The sheriff suddenly replied nonchalantly "and, considering you had to let off that much steam with your little speech, you should maybe also get _that_ off your chest", with that she pointed at the mayor's bosom, "before it grows in."

Regina followed the sheriff's look and, for the first time since waking up on the couch, glanced at her chest, which was, to her complete horror, widely covered with cat hair. As much as she tried, she couldn't stop the flush creeping up on her face and immediately crossed her arms above her chest, both in defense and to cover the evidence of her involuntary snuggle with the little animal.

Emma couldn't help the triumphant smile spreading across her face, less for the joy because of finally leaving the other woman speechless but rather for the flustered look the mayor was now wearing. She looked kinda cute that way.

When Regina finally spoke again, her voice was much softer and less provoking, almost pleading.

"If you could now, please, take that cat with you. Henry's going to be home any minute and I don't want it still being here then." She sighed rather defeated and suddenly sounding very small. "He would probably fall in love with it instantly and want to adopt it."

As soon as the double meaning of her last statement dawned on her, a wave of sadness flashed through the mayor's eyes but was gone again so quickly, that Emma thought for a moment she had just imagined it. The blonde looked at her for a while, searching the other woman's eyes for the emotion she had seen filtering through just seconds ago but was again met by the mayor's steady gaze, showing nothing but strength and determination. Although she could swear there was now a hint of something else in the other woman's eyes, too. Was it kindness?

Emma averted her gaze and shook off the thoughts of Regina Mills being able to show any signs of emotion and decided to wave a white flag.

"Alright, I'm gonna make sure, that the little fella finds a nice place."

Regina nodded in agreement and reached for the door to shut it but, looking one last time at the little cat and the woman holding it in her hands, a barely audible "Goodbye, Emma." left her lips, before she could prevent it.

Shocked by the gentleness with which she had uttered those two words and by the fact that she couldn't even say if they had been directed at the cat, the woman or both, she slammed the door, hoping that the sheriff hadn't heard her. Judging from the similarly surprised expression she had seen on the other woman's face, before the solid door snapped shut, her hopes were nothing but futile.

_Shit!_

Here she was again, standing in the hallway, breathing heavily while leaning against the only solid thing that sheltered her from the hostile world outside.

Standing outside that wooden barrier there was still the sheriff, holding the warm ball of fur in her hands and wondering blankly what had gotten into the woman on the other side of the door. Regina Mills seemed to become more mysterious every day and Emma Swan would be lying if she claimed that she wasn't a little bit intrigued by that woman.

Shaking her head and filing the incident as yet another strange encounter with one of Storybrooke's many strange inhabitants, she began striding towards her yellow bug, smiling to herself.

"Well, you little heartbreaker" She whispered conspiratorially into the cat's ears, winning a loud purr from the animal in return, "seems like somebody has a soft spot, after all."

She couldn't know how true that statement really was.

Meanwhile Regina had, as so often on that day, regained her composure and contently, if a little wistfully, observed the two Emmas leaving her premises. Finally she could get on with her comfortingly monotonous life and her likewise work. If only the big, lush house didn't suddenly seem so empty.

She sighed loudly once more before directing her steps to her office.

That wild animals crossing sign order definitely needed to be placed without further delay.


End file.
